Republic of the Philippines

SUPREME COURT
Manila

EN BANC

G.R. No. L-15423 June 22, 1962

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF SUGARCANE PLANTERS, ET AL., petitioners,

vs.
THE COURT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, ET AL., respondents.

San Juan, Africa, Benedicto, Hilado and Hilado, C. A. Lardizabal and A. Sato for petitioners.
Aristotle Dimaano for respondent Federation of Free Farmers.

BAUTISTA ANGELO, J.:

On March 10, 1959, the Federation of Free Farmers, which is composed of laborers, working in the sugar
plantations of several planters in Negros Occidental, filed a petition before the Court of Industrial
Relations praying, among other things, for payment of the wages of its laborers as required by law, for
certification election with a view to selecting the collective bargaining unit of said laborers, and for
settlement of their differential pay for three years, as well as for settlement of unfair labor practices
which the union contemplates to file against the planters.

The National Federation of Sugarcane Planters, one of respondents, filed a motion to dismiss based on
lack of jurisdiction and insufficiency of the petition. Said respondent likewise asked for a bill of
particulars in view of the ambiguous averments of the petition.

The motion to dismiss was set for hearing at which both parties appeared and argued, but before action
thereon was taken, the union filed an urgent motion praying that the petition be set for hearing in
different towns of the province of Antique taking into account the different places of residence of
respondents.

In the meantime, the industrial court, considering that most of the movants have already filed their
answers to the petition, and that the grounds on which the motion to dismiss is based do not appear to
be indubitable, resolved to defer action on the motion until after the hearing of the petition on the
merits. Five day after the issuance of this resolution, the industrial court acceded to the motion to set
the petition for hearing as prayed for, and, accordingly, it set the same for hearing on different dates
and at various towns of Antique, namely, Patnongon, Bugason Valderrama, Culasi and Tibiao.

The National Federation of Sugarcane Planters objected to the setting of the petition for hearing at the
places abovementioned not only because the same would work inconvenience and prejudice to its
members but also because the same was acted upon without affording respondents an opportunity to
be heard in connection with said urgent motion and even before the court had passed upon the issue
relative to its lack of jurisdiction over the petition.

And this objection having been overruled, respondents interposed the present petition for certiorari
imputing grave abuse of discretion to the Court of Industrial Relations.
The petition was given due course with preliminary injunction.

The claim of petitioners that the motion to set the petition for hearing was acted upon by the Court of
Industrial Relations even before it his passed upon the issue of jurisdiction raised by them appears to
have no basis. The record shows that on May 6, 1959, the Court of industrial Relations issued an order
deferring action on the motion to dismiss until after the hearing of the petition on the merits
considering that most of the movants have already answered the petition and the grounds on which the
motion is based do not appear to be indubitable. The court also found that to substantiate said grounds
there was need to present evidence and in order to avoid duplicity of trial it was deemed proper that
the petition and the motion be heard jointly. It should be noted that while the notice of hearing is dated
April 23, 1959, the same was actually released by the industrial court five days after the issuance of the
order postponing action on the motion to dismiss.

The contention that the setting of the petition for hearing at different towns of the province of Antique
would work prejudice and inconvenience to petitioners is also untenable it appearing that most of said
petitioners have their haciendas and houses in said province while most of the labor contractors who
recruited the seasonal laborers are also from Antique and have their houses there and spend a great
part of the year in the aforesaid province. It likewise appears that the distances between the different
towns where the hearings were set are short and there are good roads connecting the towns and
available transportation facilities that commute daily between them. On the other hand, petitioners
have their haciendas near the places of hearing and the action of the court cannot work inconvenience
to them considering their facilities and resources.

We find, therefore, no plausible reason to disturb the action taken by the industrial court on the
matter.1äwphï1.ñët

Petition is denied, with costs against petitioners. The writ of preliminary injunction issued is hereby
dissolved.

Padilla, Labrador, Concepcion, Reyes, J.B.L., Barrera, Paredes, Dizon, Regala and Makalintal, JJ., concur.
Bengzon, C.J., took no part.